General Zelda Should the Water Temple Always Be "That Dungeon"?

[Justac00lguy]

Water based dungeons have always had that notoriety, whether it be the confusing layout, traversing through and under water, combat, mind boggling puzzles etc. It seems as if that this single element seems to really push the difficulty up a notch or two: Water Temple, Great Bay Temple, Jabu-Jabu's Belly (OoA), Temple of Droplets, and most recently, the Lakebed Temple.

I guess in that one dungeon alone (you all know what one I'm talking about) there is some sort of expectation when encountering a water based Dungeon. It's because of this that I've been really disappointed that we haven't seen proper one in so long, kind of a shame in some ways.

Now I'm a firm believer that each dungeon should hold its own unique challenge and I do agree to some extent with a slight difficulty curve, but should Nintendo keep to somewhat of a tradition and actually focus purely on challenge and confusion when designing a future Water Temple? Give your thoughts below.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Not necessarily. I can understand why it is "That Dungeon" due to the fact that there can be many puzzles that have to do with changing water level, water flow, and even doing part of the dungeon underwater where things are more difficult to do. However, I want to see the last dungeon be "That Dungeon", because I believe it is supposed to be the hardest challenge you will face in the Zelda game.

 

[Mask-Salesman]

I disagree. It really depends on the Zelda youre playing. Jabu Jabu's Belly was the hardest dungeon when playing with Young Link, but when you compare it with adult Link dungeons it's easy and lineair. True, the Water Temple in OoT was a b*tch, but that makes finishing it even more satisfieing.

Great Bay Temple isn't that hard either. In MM I think that each temple gets a little harder. Stone Tower Temple was much worse then the Great Bay Temple. Don't get me wrong, I loved all the temples, but STT was pretty hard. I think Lakebed Temple was the exception. Damn, that temple was hard and didn't seem logical at all. I've spend a lot of time walking from one room to the next trying to figure out what to do, even with the map and compass.

I think Water Temple's only have the notoriety, but don't always live up to the reputation. The Water Temple from OoT is notorious on the internet, even for non-Zelda players. All Zelda dungeons are designed to be logic and playable.

 

[kingofhyrule]

I think that as notorious as they are, Nintendo should attempt to keep them that way.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

A water dungeon isn't always "that dungeon" The Swamp Palaces from ALTTP & ALBW were great and so was Ancient Cistern, there were a few dungeons where Link took a dip in the LA and the Oracle dungeons that weren't too bad. Sometimes that dungeon is an Ice Dungeon, sometimes its a non descript dungeon, sometimes its a frickin Sky Dungeon. Those are seriously annoying

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Lol, the ancient cistern definatly was a disappointment. I for one would really like to see water temples return to their former glory. Water temples are all usually very challenging for whatever reason (changing water levels, finding a bunch of keys, lots of doors, head scratching puzzles, etc.) I would like to see them live up to their reputation.

 

[Jamie]

I guess in that one dungeon alone (you all know what one I'm talking about) there is some sort of expectation when encountering a water based Dungeon. It's because of this that I've been really disappointed that we haven't seen proper one in so long, kind of a shame in some ways.

What is a proper one? It seems to me that "proper" is defined as OoT's water temple. Why? I don't think there is any proper way to do a dungeon. That's why Zelda is so good. Each dungeon feels fresh and unique.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Lol, the ancient cistern definatly was a disappointment. I for one would really like to see water temples return to their former glory. Water temples are all usually very challenging for whatever reason (changing water levels, finding a bunch of keys, lots of doors, head scratching puzzles, etc.) I would like to see them live up to their reputation.

I liked the Ancient Cistern it had some neat puzzles and awesome theming, plus Link got to channel his inner Indiana Jones & his inner Mario Bros in one dungeon. What's to be disappointed about? I liked the fountains that could raise you up or let you walk across, I liked the fact that the dungeon wasn't a bunch of swimming pools, I liked making it so that you could be sucked into another room. I didn't like swimming or doing that spin jump out of water, that was seriously annoying having to contend with those clunky controls. Sorry Link, Ecco you are not. That was all fresh and new for me.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I liked the Ancient Cistern it had some neat puzzles and awesome theming, plus Link got to channel his inner Indiana Jones & his inner Mario Bros in one dungeon. What's to be disappointed about? I liked the fountains that could raise you up or let you walk across, I liked the fact that the dungeon wasn't a bunch of swimming pools, I liked making it so that you could be sucked into another room. I didn't like swimming or doing that spin jump out of water, that was seriously annoying having to contend with those clunky controls. Sorry Link, Ecco you are not. That was all fresh and new for me.

Well if you liked it you liked it, I didn't because for me it wasn't very challenging, don't know if I'm the only one who thinks that, but the ancient cistern just lacked. The whip wasn't used in interesting ways at all from my view. Not to mention the temple didn't take advantage of any other items really. Now the great bay temple and OoT's water temple were challenging and implemented links weapons in interesting ways at the time OoT came out.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Well if you liked it you liked it, I didn't because for me it wasn't very challenging, don't know if I'm the only one who thinks that, but the ancient cistern just lacked. The whip wasn't used in interesting ways at all from my view. Not to mention the temple didn't take advantage of any other items really. Now the great bay temple and OoT's water temple were challenging and implemented links weapons in interesting ways at the time OoT came out.

I thoroughly agree. In fact I felt all Skyward Sword lacked what a dungeon should offer. They all had pretty great concepts/designs, and they were visually impressive; however the majority lacked that little something.

The Ancient Cistern being a great example because on the surface, or at least when you analyse the key factors, it's a pretty great dungeon, but it feels somewhat empty. It didn't have a clear theme - it had slight similarities to a water based dungeons, but it never truly felt like one. It was a dungeon without a distinct identity in a way. The Ancient Cistern also felt rather empty without any true depth or challenge. You never truly felt troubled and the puzzles just didn't have that execution; this was somewhat saved by the latter section, but with this dungeon being so short, it made the whole experience incredibly underwhelming in my opinion.

Sorry for the off topic post, but I guess it kind of fits in with the theme of water dungeons.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Well if you liked it you liked it, I didn't because for me it wasn't very challenging, don't know if I'm the only one who thinks that, but the ancient cistern just lacked. The whip wasn't used in interesting ways at all from my view. Not to mention the temple didn't take advantage of any other items really. Now the great bay temple and OoT's water temple were challenging and implemented links weapons in interesting ways at the time OoT came out.

Well to each their own right?

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

I thoroughly agree. In fact I felt all Skyward Sword lacked what a dungeon should offer. They all had pretty great concepts/designs, and they were visually impressive; however the majority lacked that little something.

The Ancient Cistern being a great example because on the surface, or at least when you analyse the key factors, it's a pretty great dungeon, but it feels somewhat empty. It didn't have a clear theme - it had slight similarities to a water based dungeons, but it never truly felt like one. It was a dungeon without a distinct identity in a way. The Ancient Cistern also felt rather empty without any true depth or challenge. You never truly felt troubled and the puzzles just didn't have that execution; this was somewhat saved by the latter section, but with this dungeon being so short, it made the whole experience incredibly underwhelming in my opinion.

Sorry for the off topic post, but I guess it kind of fits in with the theme of water dungeons.

Yeah definatly skywards dungeons in general sort of lacked. Especially the sandship... it didn't even implement the clawshots at all even though it was link's newest weapon going into it. That's so off topic though.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Well to each their own right?

What do you mean? You want me to elaborate?

Well the water temple in OoT was challenging because its puzzles were about mildly hard. There were so many rooms, so many keys, and the first time you play through it you find yourself questioning whether you should use a key a on a door because some keys are hard to find. Not to mention raising and lowering the water level makes it all more difficult.

The Great bay temple had very hard puzzles, lots of rooms, and changing the direction of that giant turbine that turns the water was hard to figure out. There were all those areas were you have to open pipes to get water flowing to get various effects. Also the ice arrow was used very well, you could freeze and unfreeze water to get different results to further you in certain rooms. Plus I thought it was fun shooting the ice arrows at pools of water to make ice that you can jump onto to reach new areas you couldn't reach before.

Both temples utilized all links weapons very well, and had decent difficulty puzzles. Not to mention challenging bosses, that's what makes a dungeon very fun.

 

[Kylo Ken]

Keep those challenging water dungeons coming, I love 'em.:yes:

 

[Beauts]

Ancient Cistern is in my opinion an example of one of the best water dungeons in the history of water dungeons. It was just so different, and very clever. I also think Great Bay Temple was brilliant though difficult. In fact, it's that one which I think kind of changed my view of water dungeons which I always hated, but mainly because of the excellent swimming controls it introduced which made it so much less sluggish and excruciating.
However, I do think it's probably a good idea if they keep the water dungeons as the notoriously difficult ones. People expect it in a Zelda game and I think it's only a good thing if it keeps people talking about Zelda even if it does mean I still harbour a dislike of water dungeons.